Video: Bishop Curry’s Presser

In this unabridged press conference, Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry fields questions from the media on the day of his election. Topics include evangelism, church growth, racism, reconciliation, and marriage.

Not only is Curry the first African-Americam to be elected to the position, but he is the first to be elected on the first ballot.

Bishop Curry said his election, like that of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jeffert Schori’s before him, shows the movement of the Holy Spirit through the church.

“Remember it was on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came down and a group of Palestinian Jewish disciples began to speak in languages that were not their own and peoples of many nations and different kinds and stripes were able to hear the good news of God in Jesus,” Curry said.

“It is that Pentecost — don’t have anybody say I’m prayin’ for some Pentecostal Episcopalians, let me tell you what I mean by that before I get in trouble, this is the first day! I mean people whose lives are really living in the Spirit of God — the spirit of God’s love, the spirit of God’s embrace that reflects Jesus. And when that happens, we find ourselves growing more in the direction of God’s dream.”